Moment in Time Part 3

Chapter 115

Hell to Pay

Part 2

"You sent an orderly out to capture a violent, mentally unstable man," Esposito accuses Dr. Martin. "It's possible he was trying to subdue Gabriel when things got out of control."

"So Dave stabs Gabriel, and either Gabriel strikes back or loses himself in the storm," Ryan offers.

Rick turns at a sudden rattling noise in a vent. "Or Dave might have slunk back to a place he knows to hide out." He looks through the metal mesh. "There's something in there." Using his Swiss Army knife, he loosens the screws and pulls off the grate. "Score another one for Castle MacGyver. Aaahh!" Rick jumps back as rats pour out of the opening. He turns angrily on Martin. "You didn't tell me you have a rodent problem."

"Usually we don't," Martin claims. "They must have been driven inside by the storm."

Rick cautiously glances back at the opening and warily pulls out a leather-covered book. "It's a Bible." He flips through it.

"It's been desecrated!" Ryan exclaims.

"These are drawings of demons," Rick realizes, "page after page of them."

Lanie's voice suddenly rises from the walkie-talkie on Ryan's belt. "Ryan? Javi? Anyone there?"

Ryan pulls the radio free and thumbs the button. "Yeah, Lanie, we're here. Go ahead."

"Just get your asses to the morgue," Lanie commands. "I found something disturbing on your vic."

Rick points to the renderings in the Bible. "There seems to be a lot of that going around."

Kate's already examining Gabriel's body when Rick and the detectives arrive. Rick's eyes are riveted by religious symbols painted in red. "Whoa! Is that blood?"

"Not according to Lanie," Kate replies.

"Then what is it?" Ryan queries.

"Some kind of ink. Lanie sent samples to the lab, but one thing we know," Kate adds, "is that based on the steadiness and locations of the writing, there's no way Gabriel did this to himself."

"Someone at the hospital?" Esposito wonders.

Kate shakes her head. "No. I called, and they said Gabriel didn't have any writing on him when he escaped this morning."

"The Roman numerals are all Bible verses, and the words are in Latin," Rick notes. "Protect me, Oh Lord, from the hands of the wicked."

Ryan stares at the markings. "That's a prayer for salvation."

"He was scared," Esposito concludes. "But of what?"

Castle startles as Lanie joins them. "The mysteries don't stop there. When I conducted my autopsy, I found that the wound had been inflicted by some kind of talon or claw."

"Like an animal?" Ryan asks.

"It gets even stranger," Lanie adds, "there was an unexpected substance inside the wound."

"Let me guess," Castle proposes, "sulfur."

"That's right," Lanie confirms. "How'd you figure that one out?"

"Not as strange as you might think. Some religions, Voodoo, for example, use sulfur as protection. If whatever Gabriel got himself into employed sulfur, it could have gotten into the wound. Or it could have been used by whatever adversary took him out."

Esposito's eyebrow arches. "With a claw?"

"Again, some religions use animals as symbols of power. A practitioner might wear a claw or use one. And New York is full of strange enclaves. Less than one percent of New Yorkers practice faiths other than the mainline varieties. However, in a city of 8.4 million people, that's still enough to produce thousands of off-the-beaten-path celebrants. That's easily enough for a few that run around with claws and sulfur."

"Castle, should we be worried about how much you know about this stuff?" Lanie inquires.

"A good writer always does his research," Castle declares. "Perhaps Gabriel felt one of the cults was an evil that must be purged but was afraid it would purge him first. Looks like he was right."

Rick plops down on Kate's couch as she gazes at the activity in the bullpen. She plunks herself into her desk chair. "What did I tell you? I mean, as soon as the lights go out, bad things happen. You know, at least the precinct is on a backup generator because the rest of the city's going to have intermittent power. Today's going to be hell."

"It doesn't have to be," Rick suggests. "We've got a weird case, and we love the weird ones."

"You may have a point," Kate allows. "And Ryan and Esposito found our rogue orderly, Dave Holmby. They're bringing him in now. If he was close enough to Gabriel to get his keycard lifted, maybe he has some idea what happened."

"You want a coffee while we wait?" Rick offers. "It was a long night and will likely be a long day. We can probably both use the caffeine. Double espresso?"

"Thanks, Babe. But make it a triple."

While Kate and Rick watch from observation, Ryan and Esposito lounge in their seats across from Dave Holmby. "Hot damn! That was some storm!" Esposito declares.

"Seriously, fit for neither man nor beast," Ryan remarks. "I can only imagine how hard it was to track down an escaped mental patient in the middle of it."

"Yeah, that was some Sherlock-level detective work, Dave," Esposito offers. "NYPD would be lucky to have someone like you."

Ryan nods. "Mm-hmm."

Esposito turns to his partner. "You know what we should do?"

"What?"

"Get him an application."

"Ooh, that's a good idea," Ryan agrees, as Dave looks on in confusion. "But, there's that whole murder issue," he adds.

Esposito stares at Dave. "Yep. If only you wouldn't have killed Gabriel Shaw last night after you caught him. Not that I don't sympathize. I mean, he stole your keycard."

"Yeah, that was a nasty move on his part," Ryan comments. "He probably would have gotten you fired."

"Wait a minute," Dave protests. "When I left Shaw, he was alive."

"So you admit to seeing him after he escaped?" Ryan presses.

"Yeah, look. He used to talk about this church on 87th street. I found him there. It's one of those storefront chapels but a strange one. There were all sorts of crazy symbols up on the wall. Shaw said they were protection." I grabbed him and tried to put him in my car, but…."

"But what?" Esposito prods.

"He knew that I was liberating meds from patients and selling them on the street."

Esposito smirks. "Let me guess. He told you he would rat you out if you took him back."

Dave sighs. "I wish he'd said that. He promised he was going to out me no matter what."

"That sounds like even more of a motive to stab the guy," Ryan figures.

"I swear, I let him go. He was alive at 4:30 yesterday afternoon. That was the last time I saw him."

Esposito leans into Dave's face. "You didn't go back to Peakmore. So what? You figured you'd hide out at your girlfriend's place where we found you?"

"I wasn't hiding! I figured that Shaw was going to get caught sooner or later, which meant I was out of a job no matter what. So I said screw it, I might as well take the night off and spend some time with my girl."

"All right, let's pretend that's true," Esposito proposes. "You worked with Shaw. So tell us this. Why, after 20 years at Peakmore, would he suddenly decide to break out?"

"All I know is that in the last few weeks, he was really amped up."

"Why?" Something happen to him?" Ryan asks.

"Not something. Someone. A visitor."

"Who?" Esposito demands.

"I don't know. But whoever it was really set Shaw off. I mean, he was really disturbed, but after this guy came by, he got even worse."

Kate turns to Rick. "Do you believe Holmby?"

"I think he's too dumb to make up a believable lie. His job shouldn't have been in jeopardy. Institutions like Peakmore have enough trouble keeping employees. Why would Martin fire Holmby on the word of a delusional inmate? And on top of that, Holmby volunteered to cops that he was stealing and selling drugs. Not the brightest move. And where would Holmby get a claw? I'm sure the boys will check his alibi, but I think he's telling the truth."

"Which leaves us nowhere."

"Au contraire. It leaves us checking out that church on 87th street. Want to bet the symbols on the wall will match the ones in Gabriel's Bible?"

"No bet. Let's go."